Memo

BILL NUMBER:S6991

TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the public health law, in relation to the distribution of grants for the health workforce retraining program

PURPOSE: The purpose of this bill is to amend the health workforce retraining program (2807-g of the PHL) so that no less than 2.5% of the total funds available in any request for proposals is made available in any region and to allow grant recipients who have received awards for the same retraining project in multiple regions, with the approval of the commissioner, to redistribute funds between regions.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 2 of Section 2807-g of the Public Health Law to provide that no less than 2.5% of the total funds available in any request for proposals under the health workforce retraining grant program is made available in any region and to allow grant recipients who have received awards for the same retraining project in multiple regions, with the approval of the commissioner, to redistribute funds between regions.

Section 2 is the effective date.

EXISTING LAW: The health workforce retraining program was enacted as part of the Health Care Reform Act (Chapter 639 of the Laws of 1996).

JUSTIFICATION: When the Health Workforce Retraining Program was enacted as part of the Health Care Reform Act in 1996, funding for workforce retraining was commensurate with the amount of money raised each region's health care initiative pool and this method of allocating workforce grant funding has been maintained to this date. This methodology was originally intended to assure the availability of funds across the state. As we begin the year 2012, the allocation methodology should be reviewed to examine the relationship between health care initiative pool funding and workforce retraining needs. In particular the Utica- Watertown region is disadvantaged by the methodology to the point where due to the fixed costs of running a quality training program and the limited grant funds available, it is difficult to propose a viable training program. By way of example, while the Rochester region had just a 100,000 more residents (1M vs. 900K) and 3,000 more health care FTEs than the Utica-Watertown region, Rochester's workforce retraining allocation is almost 15 times as large (Rochester receives 5.9% of available grant funds while the Utica-Watertown region receives 0.4% of available funds.)

Absent the implementation of an entirely new methodology, this legislation proposes that each region receive no less than 2.5% of funds made available under any work force retraining request for proposals to allow for the submission of more financially viable proposals.

Further, since grant applicants must apply by region this legislation would also allow grant recipients who have received grants for the same project in multiple regions to, with the permission of the commissioner, redistribute funds among the same project in different regions. Grant applicants make a good faith effort to estimate the number of individuals that will avail themselves of training opportunities and the concomitant costs, but the actual costs and training uptake can and do vary. This amendment would allow grant recipients whose training proposal has been approved by the Department to transfer funds from regions where the costs and training uptake was overestimated to regions where the costs and training uptake was underestimated. This would maximize the use of fixed training costs and increase the overall number of individuals trained.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: There is no additional cost to the state.

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This bill is effective immediately.

Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6991
IN SENATE
April 19, 2012
___________

Introduced by Sen. GRIFFO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to the distribution
of grants for the health workforce retraining program
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 2807-g of the public health law,
as added by chapter 1 of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as
follows:
2. Grants shall be made on a competitive basis by region, in accord-
ance with the amount raised in the region, PROVIDED THAT NO LESS THAN
TWO AND ONE-HALF PERCENT OF THE TOTAL FUNDS MADE AVAILABLE IN ANY
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE IN ANY REGION, with pref-
erence within regions given to areas and eligible organizations that
have experienced or are likely to experience job loss because of changes
in the health care system. If, at the conclusion of the regional compet-
itive contract award process, there are excess funds available within
any regional allocation, such funds shall be redistributed to regions
where there is a shortage of funds available for programs which other-
wise qualify for funding pursuant to this section. IF A GRANT RECIPIENT
HAS RECEIVED GRANT AWARDS FOR THE SAME WORKFORCE RETRAINING PROJECT IN
MULTIPLE REGIONS, SUCH GRANT RECIPIENT, WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE COMMIS-
SIONER, MAY REDISTRIBUTE FUNDS AMONG SAID REGIONS.
S 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15429-01-2

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